For the AlphaValue coverage (478 European stocks, c. €9.5Tn market cap), the 2017 expected pay-out ratio should be about 56% but “only” 49% on a median basis, “ergo big earners pay out more” says analysts from the house. An 11-year history of this ratio would show that the gap between average and median is going up with some sort of a maximum reached in 2016.